The three reached the top of
the 7th pitch of Warpy Moople (a 5.9+, 8-pitch climb) late in the day; the last
pitch is much easier (5.6). Glen had led all 7 pitches to this point, with Jane
second and Carlos third, the order they had used 2 weeks before on a shorter
climb. Carlos led the last pitch, mostly running it out -- he placed only
two pieces of pro, a #7 stopper and a 0.5 Flex Friend. On arriving at the top
he did not set up an anchor right away, but yelled "off belay" and, standing on
the lip, removed his helmet, lead rack, and Camelback water system and placed
them behind the lip. Jane was belaying him and took him off, then untied herself
from the anchors. Just then, Carlos stumbled and fell off the top, to be stopped
by the Friend after a long fall (at least 150ft); the Friend was badly mangled.
(Carlos had been carrying a heavy pack as third and climbing close to his
technical limit; he had also been on call the night before at the hospital and
thus had not slept for 36 hours. Rescue workers and the medical team found that
Carlos' body bore marks of two separate violent falls.) Since Jane was not
attached to the anchors, she was violently pulled up over 50 ft and hit her head
hard enough to smash her bicycle helmet (pieces of the helmet foam padding were
found midway up the last pitch).
Glen was left alone unhurt at the 7th belay, in the dark, with his two friends
unconscious, hanging off the other rope, one at each end. He undid the anchors
(the only pieces he had), climbed up to Jane, belaying himself in reverse on
the rope joining them, then rigged a Z-ratchet (a sling wrapped around the rope
and held to the wall with a Camalot, to serve as a ratchet to pull loads; this
is a setup that he had used several times in the past) on Jane's rope to lower
her off (and raise Carlos). In the dark, he did not notice that the rope
connecting Jane to Carlos was held only by one badly damaged Friend and one poor
nut; the repeated pulls needed to raise Carlos dislodged the Friend, the nut
slipped out (it had abrasion marks, but no wire distortion or signs of stress),
and the entire load (on a rope with no stretch left and fully tightened knots)
fell on the Camalot holding the ratchet, which gave out, precipitating all three
to the bottom of the cliff 600ft below.